Chris Carter led the National League in home runs last season with 41. He also had his highest on base plus slugging for his career as well as set career highs in runs scored (84) and runs batted in (94). Outside of their franchise player, Ryan Braun, the next highest total of home runs on the team was 13 with one of those players, Jonathan Lucroy, traded at the deadline last season. The Brewers decided to non-tender Carter, making him a free agent. He was a free agent until a couple of weeks ago, when he signed a low base salary- one year contract with the New York Yankees. The Brewers made the decision to bring in Korean League free agent and former MLB outfielder Eric Thames to be their regular first baseman. Thames comes with a great Korean resume which includes 124 home runs over the past three seasons. If you averaged that out, it would be exactly 41.33(etc) home runs per season. Of course, the Korean League is known to be very hitter friendly and track record has proven that the HR numbers never translate. They did acquire third baseman Travis Shaw from the Boston Red Sox in the deal that sent reliever Tyler Thornburg to New England. That led to the free agent signing of veteran Neftali Feliz from the Pirates to serve as their closer. Additionally, left hand pitcher Tommy Milone was brought in to compete for the fifth starter spot in the Brewers rotation.The loss of Carter will be felt a lot more than the talking heads and saber-ers will tell you. Sure, he is not by any means close to a complete player, but it means the Brewers are perhaps putting some extra pressure on Thames, who never became a full time player in the major leagues before leaving for Korea. In addition to Thames, it will be a very interesting season for shortstop Orlando Arcia, who will be playing shortstop full time in the big leagues for the first time. He hit .219 in 55 games and he is still developing as an offensive player. Scouts believe he will reach his best while in the big leagues, as he could be a consistent .290-.310 hitter and have a little bit more power. In addition, he is rated as a pretty good defender, prompting the Brewers to move 2016 starting shortstop Jonathan Villar to second base. Villar is coming off of a sound breakout season, where he hit .285 with 19 home runs, 92 runs scored and led the National League with 62 stolen bases. Braun has been the Brewers franchise player and if his last three seasons are an indication, he can be counted on to hit about .290-.300 with 25-30 home runs and play in 130-135 games. Shaw, the son of former MLB reliever Jeff Shaw, hit just .245 last season for the Red Sox. Though he drove in 71 runs last season, more has been expected of the former prospect and perhaps contributed to the Red Sox moving him this past off season. Keon Broxton has emerged as the leading candidate to play center field and bat lead off for Milwaukee, with the talented Domingo Santana getting a full season as the right fielder. Jett Bandy comes over from the Los Angeles Angels, which they consider a slight upgrade over Martin Maldonado. Andrew Susac is intriguing as he could emerge with an opportunity to earn more regular playing time. It remains to be seen what the expectation should be for Jacob Nottingham, the catcher acquired in last year's Khris Davis trade. I would line the Brewers up like this- Broxton CF, Villar 2B, Braun LF, Thames 1B, Santana RF, Shaw 3B, Arcia SS, Bandy C. Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Scooter Gennett are the top candidates to come off the Brewers bench, with Ivan DeJesus trying to make the team as a non roster invitee. Right hand pitcher Junior Guerra (9 wins, 3 losses, 2.81 earned run average) comes into camp as the Brewers number one starter. Zack Davies and Jimmy Nelson will slot behind Guerra, with Nelson and Davies tallying up the most innings among the Brewers starting pitchers last season. Chase Anderson and veteran Matt Garza will compete with Wily Peralta and Milone for the last couple spots in the Brewers rotation. Feliz takes over as the closer but has not dominated as a top closer since the last time the Texas Rangers were making the World Series. It should be low profile enough in Milwaukee and I expect Feliz to have a solid season. Carlos Torres had a very good season and Jacob Barnes threw the ball well in limited action, but outside of that, the Brewers have a lot of questions. Michael Blazek and Corey Knebel struggled last season and will probably get more regular work this season by default. The Brewers have brought in Joba Chamberlain, Ryan Webb and Rob Scahill on minor deals with the hopes that at least one can help out on the major league roster. Their top prospect is outfielder Lewis Brinson, who is expected to be the team's starting center fielder sometime this season. 2016 first round draft pick (fifth overall) Corey Ray is probably another full season away. Left hand starting pitcher Josh Hader has strikeout stuff, but struggled in Triple-A last season. Right hand pitcher Phil Bickford should impact the team this season once he is finished serving his suspension for drug of abuse. Shortstop Isan Diaz may very well have the most upside out of anyone in the organization. He can play second or third and the Brewers could use the twenty home runs he hit in the minors last season. Nottingham will go as far as his power will take him and there is a little concern over whether he can handle the duties of being a regular catcher.I look at the Brewers as a team that should be much better in 2018. Brinson, Diaz, Hader and Bickford will all be major leaguers by then and Arcia will have another full season on his belt. I think the Brewers lack the pitching depth to compete reasonably in the National League Central, but as you will see, I am not very high on the two other NL Central teams coming up. The Brewers over/ under number is 72.5 and I will take the over. I have the Brewers finishing the season at 74-88, fourth place behind the Cubs, Pirates and Cardinals, but ahead of the Reds.

As spring training is beginning in the states of Arizona and Florida, it is time to get an idea of how each of the 30 MLB teams looks for the upcoming 2016 season. While the outlook for some teams seem very good, the likeliness is that some teams are preparing for the 2017 season and beyond. However, it does not mean it will always turn out that way. Each season, teams that are expected to do well, do not. And teams that do not expect very much end up having big seasons. You have to go no further than the 2015 baseball season and see some of the teams that made the postseason. The Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs, New York Mets, Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers were not expected to be ready to contend last season, according to the "experts." It is likely that the same "experts" have a lot of faith in the teams that made the playoff last season. The Milwaukee Brewers finished the 2015 season with a 68-94 record, good enough for last place in the National League Central division. What started with high expectations ended with the team in full rebuild mode. Among players traded from the 2015 Brewers roster include first baseman Adam Lind, closer Francisco Rodriguez, shortstop Jean Segura, and outfielder Khris Davis. Of course, the fire sale started in 2015 after the Brewers fired manager Ron Roenicke and general manager Doug Melvin decided to step down. The Brewers traded outfielder Carlos Gomez, third baseman Aramis Ramirez, outfielder Gerardo Parra, and pitcher Mike Fiers last season netting many younger players we may not see in 2016. The Brewers added infielder Aaron Hill (.230 batting average, 6 home runs, 39 runs batted in, .640 on base plus slugging) and pitcher Chase Anderson (6 wins, 6 losses, 4.30 earned run average, 27 games started) from the Arizona Diamondbacks in the deal for Segura. First baseman Chris Carter (.199, 24, 64, .734) comes over from the Houston Astros and once touted young players such as outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis and infielders Garin Cecchini and Will Middlebrooks have a legitimate shot of making this ballclub. Former National League MVP Ryan Braun (.285, 25, 84, .854) leads the charge for the Brewers offensively. Catcher Jonathan Lucroy (.264, 7, 43, .717) is healthy after a disappointing 2015 season. Carter will be counted on to provide a lot of offense as the only other projected starting player expected to produce above average major league numbers is outfielder Domingo Santana (.238, 8, 26 in 52 games). Hill, Cecchini and Middlebrooks are all battling for the starting third base job with Jonathan Villar (.284, 2, 11) getting the opportunity to be the everyday shortstop. Villar was acquired from the Astros in an early off season trade. Shane Peterson (.259, 2, 16) will battle with Nieuwenhuis and Eric Young Jr for at bats in center field. Scooter Gennett (.264, 6, 29, .675) looks to cement his position at second base. The opening day lineup I would go with is Gennett 2B, Santana RF, Lucroy C, Braun LF, Carter 1B, Middlebrooks 3B, Nieuwenhuis CF, Villar SS. A lineup that was once potent now resembles a replacement team (particularly the bottom three in the projected order). The Brewers will hope that players like Hill, Cecchini, Peterson and Young provide a little bit more depth than they are projected to. Martin Maldonado (.210, 4, 22) is the backup catcher with Jacob Nottingham waiting in the wings after being acquired from Oakland in the deal for Davis. Rymer Liriano comes over from San Diego to try to gain some outfield at bats. The Brewers made a couple of aggressive signings over the past couple seasons with the hopes they would deepen their starting rotation. Kyle Lohse is finally off the books and Matt Garza (6-14, 5.63, 25 starts) has two more years remaining on his contract. The Brewers can probably fill a rotation without Garza, but need young pitchers Jimmy Nelson (11-13, 4.11, 30 starts) and Taylor Jungman (9-8, 3.77, 21 starts) to continue to develop. Wily Peralta (5-10, 4.72, 20 starts) struggled last season and also battled some injuries. Anderson, and Zach Davies, acquired in the deal that sent Parra to Baltimore, could feasibly be the forth and fifth starters. Garza, however, will get every opportunity to prove he still has something to offer. The Brewers are hoping he goes as they would like to get something back for him in a trade. The Brewers bullpen is missing Rodriguez (1-3, 2.21, 38 saves, 9.8 Ks per 9 innings pitched) dealt to Detroit. As has been said by many (I do not necessarily agree), bad teams to not need a good closer. The Brewers will likely use left hander Will Smith (7-2, 2.70, 70 games) as their closer this season. Right hander Jeremy Jeffress (5-0, 2.65, 72 games pitched) was a Brewers prospect years ago that has prospered with his first team after moving around to a couple of organizations. Right handers Corey Knebel (0-0, 4.22, 48 games) and Michael Blazek (5-3, 2.43, 45 games) will likely get a good look. One intriguing late inning relief candidate is Tyler Thornburg (0-2, 3.67, 24 games). Thornburg was a solid prospect as a starting pitcher but possesses some strong stuff as a short reliever. Perhaps is Smith hits a rough patch, Thornburg can emerge as the closer of the future. Nottingham leads the list of top prospects to potentially impact the 2016 Brewers. Of course, it may be difficult to get playing time with Lucroy in the mix, but if Nottingham is ready, the Brewers will find a place for both him and Lucroy. The "crew" can also trade Lucroy and open the starting catching job to Nottingham. Shortstop Orlando Arcia looks like the Brewers shortstop of the future. We may see him this season as well. Right hand pitcher Jorge Lopez, like Davies, has some very good stuff and is coming off a solid 2015 minor league season. What is tough about this particular rebuild is the fact that the Brewers do not have a ton of young players ready to make an impact within the next season or two. My theory is this club probably gets worse before it gets better. And that is not factoring in more trades that likely will be made during the season. I thought Las Vegas was generous with their over/ under number of 71 1/2. However, it is not that far off. I see the Brewers repeating their 2015 record of 68-94, but this time finish in last place in the NL Central division.